NEED TO KNOW
A Southern California homeowner has had a close encounter with a bear living in his crawl space
Altadena resident Kenneth Johnson says that the massive animal has been coming in and out of his crawl space since February, one month after the Eaton fire
“I was shaking like a leaf for half an hour,” he said, recalling his first face-to-face encounter with the bear
A Southern California homeowner first began dealing with an unwanted guest earlier this year, but he didn’t learned the intruder’s identity until November.
According to the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and NBC Los Angeles, Altadena resident Kenneth Johnson noticed in February 2025 that bricks around the outside of his home’s small crawl space had been moved and that the wooden frame surrounding the space had been broken.
More damage appeared in June, and he decided to install a camera in his yard to see what was causing the issues. The footage revealed a burly bear regularly walking past his house and the camera. Still, it wasn’t until November that Johnson filmed the large animal actually squeezing into the tiny crawl space.
“When I saw it all torn up, I thought, ‘He must not be under there,’ because there is no way a bear could fit,” Johnson told NBC.
Getty
A stock image of a black bear.
Video footage shared by the homeowner shows the bear, which appears to have a yellow tag on its left ear, using its front paws to climb out from the crawl space into the backyard. The animal seems to have brown fur, but the exact species has not been identified — and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife states that black bears are the only wild bears found in the state.
“I don’t know how it got under there. It must be a contortionist. This thing is so big its stomach touches the ground,” Johnson added to the Times. “It’s uncomfortable walking into the kitchen thinking there’s a bear over there. I don’t think he’s any harm to me as long as I don’t go down the side of the house while he’s coming out.”
Although Johnson and his neighbors have felt mostly safe since the bear began coming and going in their Altadena neighborhood — where the devastating Eaton fire impacted both humans and wildlife in January — the 63-year-old resident said he had a close encounter with the animal on Nov. 28 while changing his camera’s batteries.
“I just glanced at the hole from standing up and [heard] a growl and a hiss, and I just ran,” he told KTLA.
“I was shaking like a leaf for half an hour,” he added to the Times, joking that even his cat, Boo, is terrified of the roaring bear.
According to Johnson, his camera has captured footage of the bear leaving the crawl space during the day, potentially in search of food, and returning at night.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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The homeowner told the Times he came up with two potential names for the animal, depending on its sex: Ursa or Barry. Johnson also said he has reached out to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for assistance and is hoping the bear will be evicted from his crawl space and moved to a more remote area by the holidays.
“It is hilarious,” Johnson told KTLA. “I mean, I’m taking the lighter side of it, but it’s also worrying me a little bit having something so big and ferocious living right there! It’s kind of weird.”
“I don’t need a bear for Christmas, “he added. “I want to get rid of the bear for Christmas.”
Read the original article on People